Hosiery



N. LEVIN A a-i128, 1936.

HOSIERY Filed Dec. 17, 1935 Patented Apr. 28, 1936 "UNITED. STATES rn'riazu'r OFFICE I v nosmar Nathan Levin, Trenton, Ni]. l Application December 17, 1935. Serial No. 54,827

6 Claims. (01. 66-172) A This invention relates to hosiery and has for an object the improvement of the top thereof. Hosiery as used for half hose, anklets and infants wear are made with the tops thereof of circular rib fabric. It has become customary to insert an elastic or rubber yarn orthread in the rib top in order to act as a garter top. It is the principal object 'of this invention to improve the manner in which the elastic is incorporated in the rib top in relation to the structure of the remainder of the top.

It is an object of thisinvention to incorporate the elastic thread unknit in the rib fabric in a plural course spiral and to make the welt and/or the loose course in a single course spiral.

In the drawing:

. Fig. 1 is a view of stocking provided with a rib top and v Fig. 2 is a view showing the arrangement of the courses. 7

When a rib top fabric is made upon a machine having three or more feeds, say four although any number may be used, with a separate yarn at each feed it will beobvious that the courses will spiral in accordance with the number of feeds used. In the fabric made on a one feed machine the courses have the minimum spiral in which the stitches in each course are drawn through stitches in an'adjacent course made from'the same yarn and at the same feed. The welts which finish off the tops of each rib top are more desirable when made on a single feed ribber because with the minimum spiral there is the minimum overlap of the welt course.

Likewise the loose course when made on a single feed ribber is more desirable because it has the minimum spiral making it easier to transfer to the transfer ring for transfer to the machine for knitting the foot of the stocking.

On a multiple feed ribber the stitches in each course are drawn through stitches of an adjacent course but the stitches of said adjacent course are made from a separate yarn and at a separate feed. It has become desirable to make the rib tops on a multiple feed ribber despite the inferior welts and loose courses because with a multiple feed machine with an elastic thread fed at or before oneof the feeds for incorporating between the rib and plain wales of the rib fabric formed at that feed, the course containing the elastic will be separated from the next course thereof by the rib fabric made at the other feeds at which noelastic is fed. In this way an unbroken elastic thread is incorporated in the entire rib top and it is spaced apart throughout the top to provide an excellent garter eflect for the top as a whole. In a four feed ribber the elastic inlay courses are separated by three courses of plain knit'rib fabric, and each course is a continuous and unbroken spiral. In a three feed ribber there are two courses of the plain rib separating the elastic courses. What I desire to do is .to provide a rib top with' the spaced apart courses of elastic thread over the rib top, the top having a welt and a loose course as made 10 on a single feed ribber. It is possible to provide the spaced apart elastic courses in a rib top in anotherlway than using a multiple feed ribber and that is by using'a' single feed ribber and inserting the elastic thread for single courses spaced apart by courses in which the elastic is not inserted. The elastic is held in the clamp .and cutter when not being fed.

multiple feed machines and this is especially true of machines used in making the smaller diameter hosiery as that used for infants"wea'r. Accordingly it is desirable to provide the means to make the single course welt and loose course without increasing the diameter of the machine.

In the drawing I have shown the half hose at I having the rib top 2 which has incorporated therein the elastic spiral of Lastex, or any other suitable rubber yarn, at 3. The single wall welt is shown at 4 and the iaose course'at ,5 is the last course in the rib top which is joined to the foot.

In Fig. 2 is shown in diagrammaticform the layout of the courses in a rib top as it comes 40 from themachine in what is known as string. work. That is the tops as theyare made on the machine are connected to each other at the welt and by pulling out the draw thread the tops are separated. A welt of this type is known as a pull thread selvage welt and is-best when made on 'a single feed-machine although'it can also be made upon a machinewith a plurality of feeds. In Fig. 2*the welts are designated by the numeral 4 and the loose courses by the numeral Band in addition one welt andone loose course is designated by a legend. Between these legends is the rib top proper which isshown as made up of a four course spiral of courses 6, 1 8, and 9.

out the top to a point just before the loose course is to be made. At this point the extra three feeds making the courses I, 8, and 8 are thrown out and the machine again knits as a single feeder and the loose course is made upon a single round of course 6. After the loose course the machine continues to knit as a single feeder until the welt is made for the next top and after the same is made the extra three feeds are again thrown into make the top of a four feed spiral. If desired the extra feeds could be thrown in between the loose course and the welt but be taken out before the welt so that the latter could be made upon a single feed. However it is not advantageous to do this for the short, length of fabric between these two points.

It will be noted that in the course I is the rubber or elastic thread 3 and that since the course I is spaced apart by the other three courses that the elastic is spaced apart all over the top. The elastic thread 3 can be fed in at any one of the four courses and can be fed in the courses 0 if desired. If fed in the courses 6 it may continue throughout the welt and the loose course, in fact not being taken out of feeding position at all. In this event the elastic is in course 8 wherever there is a course 6 and this is all over the fabric. Theelastic thread I does not interfere with the single feed formation of the welt or the loose course. Of course even with the elastic in course 6, with a machine equipped with a clamp and cutter and a movable guide for the elastic the same may be thrown out until after the welt is made and then thrown in and left in until just before the loose course is to be made.

It will be seen that I have provided a rib top in which the welt is made with a single course spiral/the body of the top is made with a plural course spiral with the spaced apart elastic thread incorporated unknit between the rib and plain wales of one of said plurality of courses, the loose course is made with a single course spiral and the rounds between the loose course and the welt on the string work are made with a single course spiral.

In the machine there are several ways in which the desired end may be accomplished. One method on a four feed machine is to throw out three feeds by lowering the cylinder needle raising cams at each feed to a position where the cylinder needles tuck instead of knit. Likewise the dial needle advancing cams at each feed are retracted to a position where the needles tuck instead of knit. Also at each feed the yarn guide is thrown out of action and the yarn held in a clamp and cutter until the feed is again thrown ;..to action. Also thrown out and held in a clamp and cutter is the elastic thread 3.

forth in connection with Fig. 2. With the machine operating as a single feed machine the pull thread selvage welt can be made in the usual way with the use of the selvage clearing and pull down cams and the latch opener. Likewise the usual means can form the loose course.

Another method on a four feed machine eliminates the use of the clearing and pull down cams. The operation of the elastic feeding means is the same as in the preceding paragraph. Three feeds are thrown out as in the preceding paragraph and then to make the welt on the remainingfeed the dial needles thereof are withdrawn to a tuck position for one round and for the same round the yarn guide of the remaining feed is thrown out and the yarn held in a clamp and cutter. Thus for one round at this feed the cylinder needles get no yarn and they cast off their old loops under the stitch 'cam and the dial needles being in a tuck position keep their loops. For the next-round the dial needles are thrown out to the usual position and the yarn guide thrown in which makes the welt without the use of the usual welting cams.

' Still another method is to throw out two feeds in the manner pointed out above, to throw out the third feed with the dial needles at a welt position, the cylinder needles at a tuck position and the yarn in a clamp and cutter. when maktion made of a single course spiral, a body por-.

tion of said rib top made of plural course spirals and a loose course made of a single course spiral.

2. Rib tops for hosiery made in stringwork with welt portions and the loose courses made of single course spirals and the body portion of said rib tops made of plural course spirals, the fabric between the loose course of one top and the welt of the following top being made of a single course spiral.

3. A stocking with a rib top having a single wall welt portion made of a single course spiral and a body portion of said rib top made of plural course spirals with an elastic thread incorporated unknit between the plain and rib wales of one of said plural courses. Q

4. Rib tops for hosiery made in stringwork with welt portions and the loose courses made of single course spirals and the body portion of said rib tops between the welt portions and the loose courses made of plural course spirals with an elastic thread incorporated unknit between the plain and the rib wales of one of said plural courses, the fabric between the loose course of one top and the welt of the following top being made of a single course spiral. V

5. A stocking rib top having a welt, a body portion made of plural course spirals and a loose course made of a single course spiral.

6. A stocking with a rib top having a body portion made of plural course spirals with an elastic thread incorporated unknit between the plain and rib wales of one of said plural courses substantially throughout the entire top and a single wall welt portion made of a lesser number of course spirals.

.. NATHAN LEVIN. 

